Perfectly baked and zesty lemon rosemary chicken breasts for an easy weeknight dinner recipe. A quick gluten-free and paleo option to flavor up bland chicken with just two simple ingredients! Paired with savory paprika oregano roasted acorn squash and you have a complete family meal!

I eat minimal animal products. I only eat chicken and fish (i.e.: salmon, tilapia, flounder, barramundi, tuna, sardines) and I only have them as a protein option for dinner. Otherwise I am all about a vegan approach to eating, but I don’t believe I would fully remove these animal proteins from my diet. My body functions best with them included and that’s okay with me!

I do believe you should choose organic, sustainable, humanely-treated products when you can even if they do cost more. So that is my stance on eating minimal animal products. Cutting dairy, eggs, and all other meats was so easy for me and I would never go back to eating them. But everyone should listen to their own unique body and choose what best works for them and keeps them energized and healthy!

Now to the recipes. When I cook I NEVER use salt so my spice cabinet is jam-packed with every spice and herb under the sun to flavor my food. I love playing with flavors, but some times I want something a little more traditional. And that is what you get with these Lemon Rosemary Baked Chicken Breasts. For a nice side dish I give you my recipe for the best Baked Paprika Oregano Acorn Squash.

Happy Tuesday! I hope your week has been off to a good start. Today I am posting my day 2 recap of DC, you can check out day one here if you missed it.

I woke up on Friday morning with the sides of my calves o so sore! It was a bad idea to wear flip-flops for a full day of walking, haha! So sneakers it was for Friday. Our day started with the whole reason for our trip to DC, which was the GWU info session and campus tour. Even though the building we were supposed to meet in was just a few minutes from the hotel, we ended up going the wrong way and getting confused, thus making it a way longer walk then was necessary.

But we did get there eventually. I love GWU! It is smack in the middle of the city and action and I can not wait to apply…..number one school? I think so!

After our tour was decided to head back to the hotel, have lunch and then venture down to the Capitol Building! But o how the looming clouds in the sky were waiting. We took the elusive Metro down to the Smithsonian and then would walk down to the Capitol. The metro was the only really “creepy” event we encountered. and I was glad to get off….quickly!

We walked down the mall taking pictures of the Smithsonian Institute and various museums; said an excited hello to the Capitol building in the distance!

(see the looming clouds…)

And then it started down pouring. So we ran into a random museum to take cover. I had no protection for my camera so we needed shelter…fast. The Museum became so crowed as people flooded in for cover. So we walked around inside waiting for the storm to pass.

But the rain wouldn’t stop. Luckily we found RAIN PANCHOS in the gift shop! HAHA! It was embarrassing but I could not stand in that museaum any longer. So we walked out in the pouring rain, our shoes became unbeleaveably socked and water-logged, but had to take cover again in an art gallery.

(some weird paintings…)

Finally the rain let up and we raced down to the Capitol, but the sky was still dark, gloomy, and ready to storm again. At least I got to see what I came for. It was beautiful and magnificent, even with a crazy gray sky!

Before we could finishing walking up the hill to the Supreme Court and Library of Congress and started pouring again and we had to take cover under a building over hang. We waited there for 15 minutes for the rain to let up again. We were so tired and hungry by that time we just had to find the metro and get back to the hotel. When we finally got back, tired, wet, hungry, and frustrated, we choose to clean up and go to Open City for dinner. We took a taxi this time to the restaurant….we had enough walking.

Open City was packed, and I had terrible eating-out anxiety and nerves. This was a real restaurant, not like Sweetgreen where I could see my food being prepared. However I had emailed the restaurant before our trip and was assured allergies were taken seriously and I could excpect safe food. When we finally got a seat I ended up sitting directly under a dripping ceiling vent….my hair was soaked by the time we left (I guess I just couldn’t get away from water that day!). I ordered the pan-seared salmon with fresh pinapple salsa, veggie quinoa, and a mixed green salad. The food was okay, nothing special, the salmon was the best part of the dish.

Overall I was not very impressed. But maybe I just have really have restaurant expectations. The server never checked on us and did not seem to know the menu and acted weird when I asked to change a side I choose originally (coconut rice….I changed to the quinoa. You can see some of the rice on the salmon in the above picture, haha!) But it was changed by the cooks very easily.

After dinner we stood on the street outside to flag down another cab and rode back to the hotel. We called it a day, exhausted and hoping to wake-up to a better last day in DC.

Day three’s recap will be up Friday! Have a good Fourth of July, celebrate our country with loved ones and enjoy your day and the rest of the week!

I had such a great first time in Washington DC! I have dreamt about going there for so long now and it finally happened. I can tell you I was not disappointed and it was everything I hoped it would be. Now I am not a city girl so I was nervous about how I would feel being in a city (I hate NYC…so scary, dirty, and just gross). But DC was nothing like that. For one it is smaller, beautiful, so much cleaner, and I did not feel unsafe! (Except a little when I took the Metro to Capitol Hill…haha, but that’s the subway for you!)

So day one we arrived Thursday morning and had the whole day to adventure the city. We stayed at the Marriot in Foggy Bottom, which had wonderful service, beautiful facilities and rooms, and was just very accommodating and friendly! We started out by going down to the White House (which made me tear up it was so surreal)!

We went around to the (under construction) Washington Monument,

then to the WWII Memorial and the Reflecting Pool,

saying hello to Lincoln,

the Korean War Memorial and Vietnam Memorial….simply stunning and breathtaking,

At this point it started to rain a bit so we began heading back to the hotel, thankfully the shower was pretty quick…noting like what would happen the next day.

Once back at the hotel we got ready to take the Circulator down to Georgetown for dinner and more walking. We went to the original Sweetgreen! My “first-time-eating-out-in-3-years-anxiety” was not bad. I knew Sweetgreen was the perfect GF, organic, allergy-friendly foodie heaven. I got an organic mesculn salad with chickpeas, sweet potato, beets, cucumber, roasted chicken and lemon juice. It was phenomenal!

Then we wondered around the rest of the main street for awhile and then walked back to the hotel to call it a night!

I have to say it was a very successful first day. We had some trouble navigating but I think we did pretty good. The next day I knew would be more hectic since we had our GWU tour scheduled and after we would head up to the Capitol Building. This is getting long so I will save Day 2 and 3 for later in the week!

D. Day of choice? I think I like Tuesdays….they always seem to be the most stress-less day.

E. Essential Item? I must always have a book to read. I could never go a day with out being involved in a book! Right now I am reading Black Irish by: Stephan Talty. It is a pretty decent crime thriller.

F. Favorite color? Orange and Yellow! I love bright sunny colors. My bedroom is yellow, as I have tried to make my one window room as bright as possible. I love natural light and absolutely hate artificial!

G. Gummy bears or worms? Bears, definitely! When I was younger I used to freeze them as a cold chewy treat!

J. January or July? There is no contest there! JULY! I hate, I mean absolutely HATE the winter and the cold! Plus January is one of those long nothing special months that just drags on. July is beautiful, bright and warm!

K. Kids? Nooo! I really don’t like little kids. You will never find me baby-sitting.

P. Phobias? Well not really a phobia but I hate bugs and pandas have always freaked me out a bit (I know what your thinking…”that’s weird”). And I also can’t stand it and cringe when ever someone coughs. I have to leave the room, I just can’t deal.

Q. Quotes?

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” -Maya Angelou

“The further you go…the harder it is to return. The world has many edges and it’s easy to fall off.” – Anderson Cooper

“Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.” -John Burroughs

“Make up a story… For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul.” -Toni Morrison

R. Reasons to smile? The ability to move and be active, the deep unconditional love of my family, fresh air, nourishment, safety and a house over my head.

S. Season of choice? Just read my answer for “J” and I am sure you can figure it out, haha!

T. Tag 5 People. Not on my first post…

U. Unknown fact about me? I am in the National Latin Honor Society.

V. Vegetable? Snap Peas! They are so delicious, I can’t get enough. But something that I find really strange is I have always hated mushrooms. The one veggie I can’t stand. But a few weeks ago I bought some button mushrooms for a dish I was making for dinner. Well the next day I decided to just eat one plain and….o man….IT WAS SO GOOD! I have been obsessed ever since.

W. Worst habit? I am in the process of overcoming…18 days and going strong!

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Yes and yes. Not so many X-rays though. Ultra sounds were for all my digestive issues.

Y. Your favorite food? That’s an impossible question. But some of my most favorite eats are apples with almond butter, microwaved sweet potato with gallons of cinnamon and hemp seeds, cereal with almond milk, and homemade chickpea/veggie burgers (my own adaptation of this recipe).

Hey friends! I’m Rebecca a healthy gluten-free & allergy-friendly food blogger, Celiac advocate, yogi, and college student! I have a strong passion for finding the beauty and happiness in life no matter what hurdles it throws at you. To me happiness is sunshine, stepping onto my yellow yoga mat, waking up at 4 am, mugs of hot tea or black coffee, and of course cooking up delicious, nutritious food!